Invisibility

Earlier this week, a man nearly knocked me off the sidewalk and into the street as I made my way from the parking garage to my office about two blocks away. The man was tall and sturdily built and wearing a very nice (expensive) suit in conservative navy. He held a stainless coffee travel mug in one hand and a copy of The Wall Street Journal along with a fistful of cash in the other. Seriously. He was carrying a wad of money. He pushed open the door as he exited the CVS on the corner and stepped into my path. He never even looked nor did he see me. I was literally beneath his notice. I recovered my balance without injury, but as I followed him down the sidewalk and then into the office building, I was struck by how inconsequential I was to this man in his expensive suit. He didn’t hold the door for anyone behind him when entering the lobby of our building either, just allowed the door to close on its own as if he was the only person in the universe.

This struck me as particularly aligned to our current political climate. The world continually surprises me with events both absurd and terrifying. I am incredulous at the voices that are rising to the surface while my own seems to be so muffled and ineffective as to render me completely invisible.  

Also this week, I found a flyer stuffed into my mailbox announcing an upcoming block party that would shut down our street (of about 24 houses) to all traffic and require that no one parked on the road. Cars with their visitors would have to find a space on a cross street or another neighboring road so that partygoers could set up their barbecues and patio chairs and lawn games and such. Sounds fun, right? The road would be closed from 10am until 7pm, the flyer informed me. Nine hours. Nine hours of people day drinking in the street in front of my home. Last year, a fight broke out right in front of my yard when the group failed to reopen the street for hours after the posted time and another neighbor tried to get home through the drunken revelers.

So I was surprised, and not in a good way, that this event was happening again and for the full day. The flyer directed us to a facebook group set up for the party, though it turned out to be a closed group that one has to request access to see. I did and was granted access. When I asked the question about why this closure needed to be nine hours, I was told:

Can’t please everyone 

The temporary barricades aren't very large, nor are they very heavy. If you must exit [the street] at some point on [ the day of the party], you can move the barricade. All that we ask is that you please have the decency to put it back where it was.

you can enter and exit through the other streets just as easily park at the end of the corner walk a couple streets walk a couple feet to the house ..wouldn't kill anybody to burn a calorie and have a little bit exercise for a neighborhood everybody get together and be a neighbor event

By law we need to keep the street passable for any emergency vehicles, so you'll be able to get past if you must.

Small inconvenience for a good party!

It turns out that anyone in the city of Baltimore can request a street closure for a party without asking anyone who lives there for consent. I looked it up. You pay a small fee, agree to post signs 72 hours in advance telling people to get their cars off the street (or they will get towed), agree to reopen by 9pm, and to complete other forms if you intend to sell food or have live entertainment.  This amazes me as did the response of my neighbors when I asked about the hours of the closure. In the spirit of “getting to know the neighbors” could I kindly shut up and go along with the plans made by the organizers? After all, it “wouldn’t kill anybody to burn a calorie and have a little bit exercise for a neighborhood everybody get together and be a neighbor event.”

I would argue that “being a neighbor” probably ought to include a discussion with the homeowners on the street before the permit was pulled to close it, but I can already tell that just like with the man in the suit, this group’s attention is elsewhere and they are not interested in hearing or seeing anything else. I’m curious what would happen if I randomly selected other streets to close around Baltimore. It seems like a dangerous hobby.  I also wonder how many other neighbors are taken by surprise with the street closure. After the drubbing I got on Facebook, perhaps no one else will hazard a query. I know that my next-door neighbors were not informed either and have concerns about where they will park that day. Somehow, I suspect the party organizers will be less than sympathetic.

Small inconvenience for a good party!

As it happens, this shindig of neighborliness is scheduled on the Saturday before my birthday when I might have been inclined to have friends and family over for wine on the porch or dinner and games. I can’t have them park ten houses away and schlep up the hill, though, so I will make other plans, being sure to be out before 10 am and back after 7. I hope my neighbors don’t burn my house down with all that bonding and neighborly goodwill.